You'll Be In My Heart
by ete107
Summary: AU: Sequel to "In Another Life" - Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello, and Leonardo are four teenage human boys who have spent the past fifteen years or so in a New York City orphanage. After a far too long time of hidden and denied feelings, Raph and Mikey are finally together. However, one day a couple visits the orphanage and intend on adopting Mikey. - Raph/Mikey -
1. Why Can't They Understand

A/N: This is the sequel to 'In Another Life'. If you haven't read that then some parts maybe confusing, but all you really need is the prologue from that one to understand how everything is in this story.

I got the idea for this fic while listening to the song it's named after, You'll be in my heart, after watching an episode of the 2012 cartoon. Really I pictured them still as turtles cuddled in Raph's hammock with everyone against them being together, but as mutant turtles there's only a few people who even know them so I decided to make them human. Also, these are pretty short chapters, but I'm planning it to be nine chapters long hopefully.

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, except the plot, I suppose it's safe to say that it's mine.

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Chapter 1

Why Can't They Understand

"And _don't_ let me catch you shooting spitballs in my class ever again, Michelangelo!"

"Yeah, yeah. Sure thing Mrs. Pencil. Won't happen again." A blond haired, blue-eyed teen waved dismissively at a strict middle aged woman as he exited the high school. "But I don't think students with spitballs are the ones you should be worrying about at this school," he added over his shoulder.

Mikey glanced at the time on his phone and picked up his pace. He was already late for training because of a two hour detention he received for shooting spitballs in class for the fourth time this week. It really wasn't his fault though, if Leonardo had just responded to him instead of ignoring him the whole class then he wouldn't of had to resort to spitballs to catch his attention.

Leo, Mikey let out a sigh as he cast his eyes downward at the side walk. His oldest brother had been ignoring him a lot in the past few weeks and Mikey knew very well why. Leonardo didn't approve of his new relationship with Raph. He and Raphael had gotten together towards the beginning of the summer and although Donatello fully supported them, Leo didn't.

The poor guy almost went into shock when he found out two weeks ago, right before their sophomore year of high school started. He had no problem with them being gay, in fact he said that he even had his suspicions about Mikey over the years, but apparently couldn't believe that two boys who had grown up as brothers could love one another in such a way. Now he never said he thought it was wrong or disgusting or anything like that, but the still got lectured for nearly an hour. He didn't seem to be alone either. That day he ran off to Spinter's like he normally did when he was angry or upset or confused in some way, and ever since that day the ninjutsu master has treated the two boys somewhat differently. Now of course he never spoke a word about it to either of them. Nor did he act negatively towards them or ignore their existence like their brother had been, but the way in which he behaved towards the two boys had changed that day, or maybe it was just in Michelangelo's head, wouldn't be the first time. Mikey seemed to think that Splinter was disappointed in them or disapproved or was against it in someway, and he couldn't help but feel saddened by that and wounder why he and his brother couldn't just seem to understand like Donnie did.

Donatello supported them from the start. He had known about their feeling for each other for years, before they even knew themselves, and was honestly surprised it had taken them this long to finally get together. Luckily, he isn't alone either. April says that, apparently, they're an adorable couple and, strange enough, finds their relationship kind of "hot". Teenage girls were so strange.

Donnie also seems fiercely determined to "keep his sweet little brother's _innocence_ safe from the hooligan named Raphael." Whatever that's supposed to mean, but whenever he or Raph have any form of physical contact whatsoever for more than two seconds he appears out of nowhere and yanks Mikey away. Even when he is supposed to be on the other side of the city on a "date" with April and they're in the lest expected alley trying to hide from him, he still manages to show up to ruin the moment and steal his younger sibling away. Fortunately, April seems to have taken pity on them and has recently been distracting Donnie so they can be alone for a few moments at a time, if they're lucky.

Mikey came out of his daze to realize that sometime while he was in still lost in thought he had stopped walking, and now was just standing there, staring at a crack in the sidewalk. He let out a frustrated sigh and checked the time again before breaking into a sprint when he realized how late he was.

"They're gonna kill him," he mumbled under his breath as he took a shortcut through an alleyway.

Mikey was about halfway through the alley when four boys emerged from behind a couple of dumpsters, blocking his way. He recognized them, they all went to his school, but were a grade or so above him. They always tried to act tough, but everyone knew they were cowards who only picked on people they could beat, or thought they could anyways. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" The tallest and first to appear said.

"Sorry, but I can't stay and chat right now, guys. Y'know, training and stuff." Mikey said and started to push through the teens. At the same time, two switched open a pair of pocketknives while the other two stepped in his way again. Mikey tried to suppress his laughter, "Oh no! Not pocketknives! Whatever shall I do!" He couldn't hold back any longer and burst into laughter as he tried to make his was through them again. Apparently they didn't know who they were dealing with.

The boy closest to him punched Michelangelo in the stomach. He clutched his gut and looked up and the one who struck him. "You're not going anywhere, fagot," said a rather chubby, grinning down at him evilly.

Mikey glared back at him for a moment, "What do you want?"

The first guy took a step closer to Mikey and spoke again, "We're gonna make it clear that your _type_ isn't welcome at out school."

They couldn't possibly be serious. Did these people have nothing better to do than stalk a gay teenage boy and beat him up because of his sexuality? Really, he though people didn't care about this kind of stuff anymore. The majority of his class mates didn't mind that he was gay,just a few assholes made a couple of smart comments to him, but Raph shut them up quick enough. Mikey sighed and straighten himself up. "Come on, dudes. I'm already late," he said to the them, "Now get outta my way before I kick the crap out of you."

The teens chuckled lightly before one swung his fist and punched Mikey in the face. Mikey could taste a drop of blood in his mouth and brought his hand up to feel his busted lip. He looked from the blood on his finger to the guy that punched him, who was wearing a smug smile. "Alright, looks like we're gonna have to do this the hard way."

When Mikey finally arrived at his master's apartment, his brothers were already finishing up with their training session. Raphael, who was the first to notice his arrival, jogged over to him. "Hey, Mikey! Where have ya been? We were just 'bout to come lookin' for y-," he cut himself off and took a few steps closer to his brother, grabbing one of his upper arms and bringing it closer to examine the deep gash left there. "Who did this to you?" He growled out.

"Mikey, are you alright?" Donatello asked before Mikey could answer.

Michelangelo's reply was cut off again by Leo who finally noticed his brother's injuries, "What happened?"

Mikey looked at his concerned brothers and raised his hands to stop their questioning. He shook his head and laughed, though it was a bit forced. "I'm fine, I'm fine. You think this is bad? You should see the other guys. I only got a few bruises, but I totally rearranged those poor saps' faces!"

"A few bruises?" Donnie said, worried, "Mikey, you have a black eye, your left cheek is swollen, your lip is busted, you have a huge cut in your right arm, plus you seem to have a pretty bad limp, and those are only all the injuries I can see at first glance."

"Mikey, you need to lay down," Leonardo said in the same worried tone, "I'll go get Splinter." Leo walked out of the room as Raph and Donnie helped Mikey to a mat on the floor.

"Guys really, I'm okay." Mikey insisted. "Besides, look at the bright side; Leo just talked to me for the first time in over two weeks!" At this, Raph's face grew grimmer and he sent a glare in the direction their brother had just disappeared to.

Leonardo returned moments later with Splinter who hurried across the room to kneel beside Mikey. "Michelangelo, what happened to you?"

"A few students from our school cornered me in an alley while I was on my way here, but don't worry sensei, I did a lot more damage to them then they did to me." Mikey grinned and tried to sit up, but Splinter placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Lay back down, Michelangelo. Your wounds must be attended to."

Splinter spent the rest of the evening treating the youngest brother's injuries. None of them were too serious, the worst being a badly sprained ankle and the deep cut in his arm. Mikey took full advantage of being able to talk to Leo normally again while the older was still worried for his little brother. Raph spent the whole time trying to interrogate Mikey and get him to tell him who it was that attacked him so he could kick their asses. Donnie just studied their master's healing techniques the whole time.

It was becoming dark outside when the brothers finally started to head home, Splinter offered just to drive them due to Mikey's injuries, but they declined. Mikey preferred to rooftops to the streets any day. That is, until he realized he couldn't very well jump from one to the other with a sprained ankle.

Mikey stood at the ledge of the building where Splinter lived, in his stance, ready to jump.

On the building across from him his brothers were impatiently waiting for their little brother to leap over. They all new he could easily make it, even with a sprained ankle, it was only a four foot distance. You could almost step across it.

"Hurry up already, Mikey! We don't have all night y'know." Raphael complained.

"Shut up, Raph. I've got a sprained ankle! It's gonna hurt when I jump on it!"

Raph just rolled his eyes and Donnie said to him, "Why don't you go help him?"

"Why should _I _be the one to help him?!" The hothead looked to his genius brother, "Why don't _you_?"

"Simple," Donnie shrugged and continued in a mocking tone, "Cause _I'm_ not his boyfriend, _you_ are."

"Oh, shut up, would ya?" Raph said and turned his attention back to his youngest brother just in time to see him finally take the jump.

Mikey landed and immediately collapsed into his hands and knees. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Owww!" The blonde cried out and sat up into a fetal position, rocking back and forth while clutching his ankle and continuing to complain about the pain in his leg.

Raphael looked down at his brother/boyfriend and shook his head, "You're such a baby, Mikey."

Mikey looked up angerly and was about to protest when he felt Raph wrap one arm around his back and place the other under his knees and lift him into the air. Raph pulled Mikey against his chest and continued with his brothers onto the next rooftop. Mikey blushed snaked his arms around his brother's neck to hold himself up. He looked up at the larger teen's face to see that, although Raph's eyes were concentrated on what was ahead, he still mirrored Mikey's blush.

Mikey giggled to himself, causing Raph to glance down at him. "What are you laughin' at?"

"Oh nothing, Raphie," Mikey said in a teasing voice, "Just admiring your blushing face is all." At this Raph's face turned several shades darker and he glared down at his brother. Mikey couldn't help but burst out laughing at the look on his face.

"Ya won't be laughing when I drop you off a ten story building, will ya?"

Mikey stopped laughing long enough to reply, "Oh Raphie. I know you'd never to that to me! You love me too much!" Mikey winked at his brother.

"Won't I?" Suddenly Raph loosened his grip as then they sailed over a particularly long jump and Mikey though for a split second that Raph really was going to drop him. He clutched to his arms around his brother even tighter and buried his face into the crook of his neck. Then Raphael burst into laughter and Mikey glared at him, only causing his brother to laugh harder and his own face to turn much redder than Raph's ever was.

"Guys, quit fooling around!" Donnie called from ahead of them.

"Sorry, bro," Mikey said while looking around, "Hey, where'd Leo go?"

"He took off ahead when Raph decided to pick you up and carry you bridal style."

"Figures," Raph grumbled. "He's gonna have to get used to us sometime."

When they reached the orphanage Raph set Mikey down on the rooftop while Donnie started to descend the fire escape. Raph started following when Mikey caught his hand. Raph turned to his brother and was immediately met by the smaller teen's soft lips on his own. Then just a quickly, much too quickly, they were gone. Raph opened his eyes in confusion to see Mikey following Donnie down the fire escape and winking back at him. "Pay back, bro. For pretending like you were gonna drop me." Raphael growled playfully before chasing his little brother down the fire escape and into their room.

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See, told you it was short chapters. Chapter two will hopefully be up in a few days. Please, please, please review! I loved every review I got for "In Another Life", they always make my day.


	2. My Arms Will Hold You

A/N: So here's chapter two! And to Mikeygurl5 who asked if the song that this story is named after, 'You'll Be In My Heart', is from Tarzan: yes, yes it is! :]

Disclaimer: Nothing has changed in the past few days; I still don't own anything.

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Chapter 2

My Arms Will Hold You, Keep you Safe and Warm

Michelangelo, snuggled up in his bed, checked the time on his phone. Eleven twenty-three. He glanced over to his left at Donatello, surly he was asleep by now. Quietly, Mikey peeled back his blankets and sat up in his bed. He swung his legs around to placed his feet on the cold floor before standing up. He took a single step and placed a hand on the blanket of the bed which sat to the right of his own. He began to lift the blankets so he could scoot under them to cuddle up to Raphael when he heard his name called.

"Mikey," came the warning tone of his brother Donnie. Mikey froze, then turned his head to look at his brother who was sitting up in his bed and starting straight back at him. Donnie slowly shook his head causing Mikey to stick his lower lip out in a pout.

"Oh, come on, Donnie!" He whispered, "Raph is fast asleep and I need someone to comfort me and sleep with 'cause I got hurt today. Besides, you know neither of us would even _think_ about doing anything while in here with you and Leo, especially when with Leo." Mikey glanced warily over to his oldest brother who was asleep in his own bed on the other side of Raph's before turning fully to face Donnie.

Donatello sighed, "Mikey, we've been through this a million times already! You know very well you can't be sharing a bed with Raph."

Mikey just pouted at him while he though up another reason to be allowed to share a bed with his hotheaded brother. "It's not like we haven't shared a bed before."

"That was like eight years ago, Mikey! And it was only when one of you had a nightmare. It's totally different now, especially now that you guys are together!"

"Well, I don't think its very different," A low voice said from beside Mikey. He let out a surprised gasp when he felt an arm wrap around his waist from behind and pull him into the warm cocoon that was Raph's bed.

Mikey sat staring across at Donatello who narrowed his eyes at them as Raphael leaned his bare chest against Mikey's back and rested his chin on smaller teen's shoulder. Raph smirked at Donnie as he brought his other arm around the other side of Mikey's waist and hugged his brother back closer to him. Mikey felt his face heat up and saw Donnie shake his head and mumble something as he fell back into his bed, but all be caught was something that sounded like "imbeciles" and "piss Leo off" because he was too focused on his half-naked brother who was pressed against his back.

Raph chuckled as he realized he had won and took refuge back in his warm bed, bringing Mikey along with him. Mikey smiled and turned around in Raph's arms to face his brother only to find him already asleep again. Mikey chuckled quietly and curled himself up to Raph, savoring the rare occasion.

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Mikey woke up the next morning to the world's most annoying and obnoxious alarm clock, even Raph had admitted it was more annoying than Michelangelo, most of the time anyways. Donatello had invented the contraption himself and, at the time, didn't have much to work with and wasn't very experienced with machines and technology yet so it didn't turn out so great. Now he down right refuses to make a new one or improve the old because it was one of his very first creations and has "sentimental value" apparently.

Mikey groaned as he dug his face into his pillow and hugged his blankets closed to avoid having to get up. Then he realized it wasn't his pillow he plunged his face into, it was Raph's. Also, he realized, it wasn't his blankets he curled into, but Raphael himself. He could feel his brother's strong arms wrapped around him and his own curled up between their chests. Their legs were entangled underneath the blankets and Mikey's head was nestled between the pillow and Raph's shoulder. The orphanage's beds were never particularly comfortable, but this morning Mikey felt like he could spend and eternity between those blankets and the mattress. He finally decided to take a peak at Raph and see whether he was still asleep or not. Mikey opened one eye and peered up to find vibrant, green eyes watching at him.

"You know it's really creepy to watch people sleep." Mikey managed through his yawn.

Raphael chuckled and then his face turned serious when his gaze focused on Mikey's lips. He brought his hand to cup the side of his brother's face. Mikey winced when he felt Raph touch his still swollen cheek and rub his thumb across the patch of skin beneath his injured eye. "Why won't you tell me who did this to you?" Raphael asked softly.

"Because I don't want to be dating a criminal who is in jail for the murder of a couple stupid teenagers," Mikey murmured.

"They'd deserve it for hurting you."

"I told you already, I'm fine, bro. And I guarantee you that the guys who messed with me are hurting way more that I am right now." Mikey smiled, trying to brighten Raphael's mood.

Raph didn't look convinced, but didn't say any more. Mikey picked his head up and looked past him to see Leonardo's empty bed. He then twisted it around to other way to find the same was true about Donnie's. He turned back to Raph and gave him a devious smile. "So we're all alone in your bed. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Oh, yeah." Raph nodded his head and grinned.

Mikey sat up in a flash and ripped the pillow out from under Raph's head. "PILLOW FIGHT!" He shouted before whacking his brother upside the head with the pillow. Mikey bust into laughter at Raph's confused face. Then he got up and ran to the other side of the room before an angry Raphael could smack him. The larger teen jumped out of his bed and lunged for Mikey, just missing him as he ran and jumped onto Leo's bed. Raph followed him as he jumped from Leo's bed to back to Raph's to his own then to finally end on Donatello's bed where his bad ankle gave out and he collapsed with his back against the wall with a small yelp. Raph gave a predatory grin as he landed on Donnie's bed in front of Mikey and sunk down to his knees to join him. He crawled forward a bit and placed a hand on each side of Mikey's head.

"I'm gonna getcha for that one, Mikey," Raph said as he leaded his face toward his brother's. Mikey closed his eyes and puckered his lips slightly, waiting for Raph's lips to meet his own, but they never did. Eventually he grew impatient and opened his eyes to see what was going on. Raph had sat back and was watching him while trying to hold back his laughter.

"Jerk!" Mikey yelled and swatted at his brother who had finally cracked up and fallen back onto the bed in a fit of laughter. Mikey got up and started to walk away, but Raph grabbed his wrist and flung him back down onto the bed beneath him.

"I'm sorry, Mike. How 'bout I make it up to you?" Raph grinned as he hovered over Mikey.

"It depends... How do you plan on doing that? By buying me five slices of pizza after school today?" Mikey grinned playfully.

"Nah," Raph shook his head and dropped his voice to a whisper, "I've got a better idea."

Raph's voice sent shivers down Mikey's spine. He smiled back at his brother, trying to look as innocent as possible. "What ever do you mean, Raphie?"

In answer, Raphael lowered his head and nipped Mikey's jaw lightly. Mikey enjoyed the attention, but couldn't help but consider the possibility of someone walking through the door at any second and ruining this. However, he soon closed his eyes and stopped thinking all together as Raph continued to devour his neck and jaw line. Michelangelo let out a blissful sigh as he gave into his brother's actions.

Suddenly, Mikey felt Raph's weight disappear from above him. He opened his eyes to see that Raph himself had in fact disappeared all together. He stared confused at the ceiling for a few moments before his brother came into his peripheral vision, but not the one he was expecting. Donnie stared down at his little brother and crossed his arms over his chest.

"What do you think you were doing? And in _my_ bed?!" He didn't sound particularly angry, but he definitely wasn't happy.

"What the hell, Don?!" Raph came back into view and yelled at their brother.

Donatello turned on Raph. "Well, how do you expect me to react when I walk into our room to find you devouring our little brother on my bed. I mean I can't even be gone for ten minutes to take a shower without you attacking on him!"

"Well, maybe I wouldn't jump on him every time we're alone for more than a couple of minutes if you weren't such a goddamn cockblocker all the time, and actually left us alone for a few moments once in a while!"

"And let you butt rape out little brother? I don't think so!"

"_Butt rape_? What the hell is wrong with you, Don?! What have you been readin' lately?"

"Okay, maybe that wasn't the best choice of words," Donatello paused for a moment, "but you know what I meant!"

"No actually, I don't. I know you've always been kinda crazy, Don, but I think you've finally gone completely insane."

Donnie rolled his eyes, "You one to talk, Raph. I wouldn't exactly say that you've got all your marbles."

"_See!_" Raph pointed a finger at Don as if to prove his point, "You're always talking in stupid, little riddles! Nobody even knows what you mean by that!"

Mikey, who had quietly been watching his brothers' exchange, suddenly bursts into laughter, causing his brothers to pause their argument at stare at him questioningly. "What are you laughing at?" Donnie asked.

"You guys," Mikey managed between waves of laughter, "Do you even hear yourselves? Your conversation is totally ridiculous, but pretty freaking hilarious."

Mikey continued laughing while his brothers thought over their argument. "I supposed you're right." Donatello said before he too started laughing. Raphael chucked along with his brothers.

"What's so funny?" The brothers turned to see a redheaded, teenage girl standing in the empty doorway smiling at them.

"Hey, April," Donnie greeted with a wave. "It's nothing, just an argument we were having."

She nodded in understanding. "Alright, well I just wanted to see what was taking you all so long. You guys better be leaving soon." She took a quick glance around the room before asking, "Wheres Leo at?"

"He left already. Took off this morning soon after waking up," Donnie answered.

"He did?" Mikey asked confused. The four of them almost always went to school together.

"Yeah, he woke up and saw you two together and left immediately. He seemed pretty pissed or something," Donatello said to his brother with a shrug.

"He's gonna have to get used to us sooner or later," Raph said as he picked his backpack up from beside his bed and slung it over his shoulder.

"Hopefully it's sooner," April said. "It's sad to see you guys like this, you all were always so close."

"Yeah, well things change. People change." Raphael said as he beckoned to Mikey to hurry up.

"Sometimes change is a good thing," Mikey said to Raph after he grabbed his own bag and joined him on the way out the door.

Raphael glanced sideways at Mikey and grinned. "Yeah, sometimes change is a good thing."

* * *

The day passed like any typical Friday would for Michelangelo. Nothing special happened during school. Raphael spent his shared classes that he shared with Mikey trying to figure out who it was that attacked him the day before, but Mikey still refused to tell. He eventually gave up by last period, but not before promising to rip the cowards who dared gang up on Mikey limb from limb if he ever found out who they were.

After school, the four boys reported to Splinter's together. They went through the usual training and practice sessions, but their master allowed them to finish early during sparring due to Michelangelo's injured ankle causing there to be an odd number to pair into.

The four brothers now sat in their room in the orphanage, entertaining themselves in any way they could. Leonardo was sitting on a mat, placed on the floor at the foot of his bed, meditating. Raphael had borrowed one of Mikey's favorite super hero comic books and had placed himself at the head of his bed against the wall to flip through the pages. Michelangelo was sprawled out across his own bed, engrossed in his hand-held game. Donatello was focused on experimenting with broken camera and laptop parts he had collected from children around the block and the junk yard.

Suddenly, Mikey's video game character died, causing him to lose the game. He shouted at the electronic device and threw it to the other side of his bed before flopping into his back. "This is so _boring_! It's a Friday night and we're all stuck in here. Why don't we go out and do something?"

"And just what do you purpose we do, Mikey?" Donnie raised an eyebrow at his brother.

Mikey just stared at the ceiling. "I don't know, but we live in New York City for crying out loud! I'm sure it won't be that hard to find something to do."

When nobody replied, Mikey sat up and looked at his brothers. "Come on. You guys can't tell me you aren't bored out of your minds right now." Still everyone went on ignoring Mikey's complaining. "Doesn't anyone wanna go find something to do? Donnie? Raph?" Mikey looked to each of his brothers in turn, but neither of them replied. "Fine, I'll go by myself." He got up and grabbed his skateboard and headed for the door.

"You can't skateboard with a sprained ankle, Mike." Raph called, not looking up from the comic.

"Oh yeah? Watch me," Mikey replied back before swinging the door open and coming face to face with the orphanage director.

"Ahh, Michelangelo, just the boy I was looking for," said Mrs. O'Neil with a fake smile plastered across her face..

At the sound of the director, the three brothers who remained in the room peeked at the door curiously. Mrs. O'Neil hardly ever visited their room anymore unless they were in trouble or one of them was supposed to have an adoption interview, but none of them have had and one in months, maybe even years. No one wanted to adopt a teenage boy. Especially ones who were as difficult as those four were.

"Would you accompany me down stairs for a moment?" Mrs. O'Neil asked Mikey in her version of a 'sweet' tone.

Mikey quickly thought of all the pranks he had pulled on the occupants of the building lately or anything else he may have done wrong. He couldn't think of anything he had done within the past week that was worthy of a visit from Mrs. O'Neil. She didn't exactly like him very much. In all fairness, she didn't seem to like any of the children in the orphanage, except her own daughter, April, who appeared to be a perfect little angle in her eyes. However, recently her distaste for him grew when she discovered his and Raph's relationship for herself. She had almost moved them to separate rooms, but decided not to when she found out that Leo appeared to be just as against them as she was and there was no way that any "funny business" would be going on while they were under his watchful eye.

"Why, Mrs. O'Neil?" Mikey tried to sound as innocent as possible.

"Oh I just need your help with some old boxes I'm moving into storage, that's all." She widened her obviously fake smile.

"Uhh, okay. Sure." Mikey followed her through the hall and down the steps to the first floor. They continued down the hall until the reached a room near the end of it. Mrs. O'Neil gestured for Mikey to enter first as she followed behind him.

"Mr. and Mrs. Parker, this is Michelangelo. Michelangelo, say hello to Alfred and Wendy Parker."

Mikey stepped into the room to see a man and woman seated at a table with an empty chair across from them. He turned his head to see Mrs. O'Neil blocking the door way, giving him no choice but to sit down with the couple. He sighed as he took his seat. How did he _not_ see this coming? He and his brothers used to be able to tell an adoption interview was coming from a mile away.

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Review please, I'll never get enough of them, never. Be expecting chapter three in a few more days.


	3. This Bond Between Us Can't Be Broken

A/N: Chapter 3! Oh and Mikey wasn't being adopted at the end of chapter two, it was just and interview for the possible parents and the child so yeah. Mikey's still with us... for now.

Disclaimer: Not mine, TMNT that is.

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Chapter 3

This Bond Between Us Can't Be Broken

Not much later that same evening, when Michelangelo returned to his room after the adoption interview, he found his brothers still occupied with basically the same activities as when he left them.

Donatello glanced up from his various machinery parts that he was working on making into a brand new contraption. "How was the interview?" He asked nonchalantly.

Mikey sauntered over towards Raphael to join him in reading one of his comic books, but stopped short to look at the brother who had questioned him. "How'd you know I had an interview?" He was slightly surprised, although he knew he shouldn't be. He should have realized by now that Don seems to know everything.

Leonardo and Raph glanced over at their brothers, interested in the topic of discussion. They all knew that it was rare for adopters to be interested in high school students.

"It was obvious," Donnie said with a shrug, "You know as well as I do that Mrs. O'Neil wants as little to do with us as possible. So, why would she be asking for your help with anything? Unless it was her way of trapping you into a position where to were forced to meet some adopters."

Mikey sighed and sat down beside Raph. "Well, why didn't you warned me _before_ I followed her?" He asked his genius brother.

Donnie just shrugged again, "Like I said, Mikey, I thought it was obvious," he turned his attention back to his device before continuing. "So? How was it?"

It was Michelangelo's turn to shrug his shoulders while he tried to look over Raph's shoulder at the comic. "Eh, it was okay; boring, but I suppose I beets sitting around up here. I mean Mrs. O'Neil hardly let me even speak. She answered almost all the questions before I even had a chance to say a word. Probably wanted to make sure I didn't purposely leave a bad impression. But the couple seemed pretty decent."

"Why were they interested in you instead of some little kid?" Raph asked.

"I guess they just sensed my awesomeness," Mikey smirked at his brother who rolled his eyes. "Well, apparently Mrs. Parker isn't able to actually have a child of her own, but they said they didn't want a baby anyways. They spent the first twenty years or so of their marriage traveling all over the world, so they're in like their mid forties now and think they're getting too old to have a young child. Also, their jobs require them to work most of the day, so the want to adopt someone who able to take care of themselves until they got home in the evenings. Plus I got the feeling that Mr. Parker wanted an athletic son since he kept asking if I did any sports and if I liked to play football and baseball and stuff."

"You got all that info from a forty-five minute interview?" Donnie asked.

"Yep," Mikey answered, "I'm not completely dumb, I can pay attention when I want to."

"Wait, they traveled the world for twenty years?" Leo asked. "They've got to be loaded. Why would the come to a dump like this to adopt a kid?"

"I don't know. I think the lady said something about growing up in a big city and for some reason she wanted her child to be used to it. And Mr. Parker said he grew up on a farm or something without a rich family like his wife's. I guess he wanted a somewhat normal kid, not some snotty, spoiled brat."

"And you're normal?" Donatello raised an eyebrow and smiled as he teased his brother.

Mikey just stuck his tongue out at Donnie. "Well, they said they've been to several orphanages already, but haven't found that right kid. But after our interview they to be pretty set on me. I heard them making arrangements with Mrs. O'Neil, they plan on coming back Sunday night to sign the papers and whatever else has to be done to adopt me." Then Mikey chuckled, "Too bad I won't be around."

Don joined his brother in a light chuckle, remembering how they all used to run away for a couple hours when they thought they might be adopted. However, their other two brothers weren't as amused. Leo wasn't even listening anymore for he had gone back to his meditating, but Raph, he seemed to have a grim face as he stared at the same page of the comic that he'd been on throughout Mikey's whole retelling of the interview.

"Where do they live anyways?" Donnie asked curiously.

"Uh," Mikey hesitated for a moment to think. "I don't remember what the towns called, but I'm pretty sure its somewhere in Pennsylvania. About a four hour drive I think they said."

Donatello nodded his head at the gathered information. Raph abruptly stood up from his bed, leaving the comic behind. He opened the nearest window -which happened to be the one between his and Leo's bed, above their dresser- and exited the room without a word to his brothers.

Donnie and Mikey watched their brother leaved before exchanging a confused glance between one another. "Whats up with him?" Don said and glanced out the window beside his own bed to catch a glimpse of his brother's retreating feet as they made their way up to the rooftop.

"I don't know," Mikey stood up and reopened the window his brother had just went through. "I'll go check on him."

Mikey climbed out the window and up to the roof where he found Raph staring out at the city below. He was sitting on the ledge of the roof, one leg hanging off the edge while the other was propped up to allow his arm a place to rest.

Mikey joined his brother and took a seat beside him, letting his legs dangle over the side. "The lights look really amazing tonight," Mikey said as his eyes wandered over the city.

"Yeah," Raph replied, keeping his gaze on the scenery.

They sat there in silence, staring at the lights. Mikey was waiting for his brother to tell him what was bothering him. He knew better than to ask him directly, Raphael always got angry when someone questioned personal things.

"You should go..." His voice was so low that Mikey nearly missed what he had said over the noise of the city.

"What?! No way! Why would you say that?" Mikey looked to him, shocked. He hadn't expected his brother tell him to actually go with the adopters for once.

"So you can be 'part of a family-"

"I already have a family!" Mikey protested, "You guys and Splinter are-"

"Let me finish, would you?!" Raph raised his voice to cut Mikey off. He continued to look off in the distance. Why was he avoiding to look at Michelangelo? "We're not a real family, Mike. You, me, Donnie, and Leo aren't a real family. Even with Splinter, we're still not...

"I saw that couple leave a minute ago, before you came up here. They could give you everything you'd need. Like you said, they traveled around the world for the past two decades. They have a nice car, nice clothes; they have money, Mikey. They could offer you everything you ever wanted or dreamed of having."

Mikey refrained himself from pointing out that, no,they couldn't get him everything he wanted. If he was without Raph and the rest of his brothers, then he could never have _everything _he desired_._

"Plus you'd be going to a new school. Probably a much better one that could provide all the students their own textbook. You'd be getting a better education. Hell, they can even pay for you to go to collage, Mikey! You're a smart kid when you put your mind to it, y'know. You could really go far with a collage education." Raph glanced over a his brother for the first time since he had joined him, but only for a second before adverting his eyes again. "And you wouldn't get picked on. No one would know anything about you at a new school. No one would gang up on you for your... _preferences_ or some other stupid shit."

Raphael paused and Mikey took his chance to speak. "But we never cared about that kinda stuff when we were younger. We all ran away from being adopted. Why should that change now? Why should that change for me?"

"We were selfish when we were children," Raph grumbled. "We were always so afraid of being left behind that we made whoever had the chance of being adopted feel guilty about leaving us. The rest of us never considered that our brother could be better off after being adopted. That they could be happier and live a better life with a new family. No, that never occurred to us."

"We weren't selfish, Raph! We choose not to be adopted because we were afraid of _leaving_ our brothers. Because we wanted to protect each other. There was no way any of us would have been happier with another family."

"But we woulda been better off!" Raph snapped. "You'll be better off... if you go with that couple, Mikey. Don't worry about how Leo, Donnie, or I will feel. Of course we'll miss you, but we only have less than three years of high school left. Then four of us can live together again, after graduating. Mikey, you know you'll have a better future if you go with them. So _go_."

Mikey was so confused, he couldn't take it anymore. This made no sense. Why would Raph want him to go so badly, and why was he refusing to look at him? Raph just stared at the city and lights, but not actually seeing them. He only glanced at him for a fraction of a second to look at his wounds from that stupid fight yesterday. Mikey couldn't understand why his brother was acting this way.

"Raph, I don't care what you say, bro," Mikey smiled and tried to lighten to mood, "but you're not gonna get rid of me that easily." Mikey laughed and placed a hand on Raph's tense shoulder.

Raphael was silent for a moment or two before he suddenly jerked away from Mikey's touch and stood up. "Don't you get it?!" He finally looked Mikey's way, but he was glaring at him, straight into his eyes. "That's what I'm _trying_ to do! I was hoping that you'd listen to that bullshit about having a better life and just _leave_ already, but I guess I'm just gonna have to tell you the truth."

Mikey retracted his hand as though it had been burned by Raph's action and stood up and faced Raph. What was going on? Why was he yelling all of a sudden? Had he missed something? What was he talking about? He _wanted_ him to leave?

"_This_," Raph motioned between Mikey and himself, "was the worst idea that microscopic brain of yours ever concocted that I ever went along with, hands down. It was bad enough living with an obnoxious, lil' shit like you as a brother for the past fifteen years, but the past several weeks of _us_ has been absolute torture! You're always up my ass with all your little childish games and pranks. You're always _clinging_ to me in public. You think Leos the only one disgusted by us? Think again! Everyone finds us repulsive, including myself and it's time I put an end to this once and for all. Mike, you never meant _anything_ to me."

Mikey just stared as his brother shouted at him. He couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't feel. He could only barley process the words as they spilled from Raph's mouth and, quite frankly, he wished that that was the _one_ thing that he couldn't do at the moment.

"You were just a little experiment of mine. First I was curios as to what it'd be like with another guy. After fucking all the school sluts I got bored and wanted to try something new. Then I grew tired after a week of Donnie showing up everywhere and stopping us. So I went back to the girls, but made sure to hide it from you and the others. Remember when I went out last week and didn't get home 'till after three in the mornin'? Well, that's what I was doing. You know Diana from down the block, right? Tall, blonde cheerleader in twelfth grade. Well, she'll throw her cat and anyone who's remotely interested. Such a low self-esteem, that girl." Raph smirked at, what Mikey assumed to be, the memory of his experience.

Mikey finally, slowly regained the ability to move. Well, he could only move his head and arms, but that was a start. He shook his head in disbelief and brought his hands up to his ears to block out his brother's cruel words. He scrunched his eyes close and shook his head frantically, but it was no use, the words were still seeping through.

Raph took a step closer to Mikey and continued to glare at him. "Needless to say, you became more of a nuisance to me than ever before, and, honestly, I couldn't stand the sight of you!"

Mikey winced at the sound of disgust in his brother's voice, but all he could feel was a numbness in his chest. It all made scene now. He had known there was no way Raphael could really love him. He always thought it was too good to be true, and it looks like he was right. His vision became blurry. When had the tears started? He never cried, especially not in front of Raph.

Raphael went on, unfazed by the heart broken look on his brother's face. "But I still continued to play the role of the loving brother, loving boyfriend. I couldn't dump your ass and have everyone pissed at me, that would just cause more problems for myself. Not to mention hearing that annoying wail of yours when you cry that, no doubt, I'll be hearing in a moment or two. However, the perfect opportunity to finally get rid of you had presented itself earlier tonight, and I'm not letting it go to waste."

The numbness that he had hated at first faded away, and now he wished more than ever that it'd come back. He felt the pain begin to build up inside him, as if he were going to explode, or just curl in on himself and slowly die from the torturous feelings. He hated feeling so helpless. Mikey began breathing heavily and choking on the oxygen when it wouldn't enter his lungs fast enough. He tried to calm himself. Raph didn't want to see him cry. It'd only make him hate him more for being weak and letting his "annoying wail" out.

"Leave Sunday. You're not wanted here anymore. The others won't admit it, but I know they find you just as much a bother as I do. You know that, too. You just won't admit it to yourself. So would you do us all a favor and just get out of our lives for good?!" Raph spat. He then turned around and disappeared into the night, not looking back.

* * *

Raphael returned in the early hours of the morning, before it was even light yet. He peered through the window and into his and his brothers' room and counted three sleeping figures. He let out a sigh as he spotted an old bag beside Donatello's and Michelangelo's dresser, stuffed with clothes and comics. Of course it was Mikey's.

He opened the window and entered the room without making a sounds. He emptied his pillow from its pillowcase and began stuffing it with random articles of his clothing from his dresser. Once he was satisfied, he grabbed a piece of paper from Donnie's bookshelf and scribbled down a few sentences for his brother. He then layed the note on Don's pillow, beside his head.

Raph turned to look at Mikey, who seemed to be having a nightmare from his twitching and light mumbles. Raphael smiled sadly at his little brother. He could still see the tear streaks on his cheeks, left there from when he had finally managed to cry himself to sleep. He stepped closer to his brother and gently whipped the tears away before leaning down to place a chaste kiss on his forehead. He knew Mikey could sleep through just about anything and wouldn't wake from his light touches. However, that didn't stop his heart from aching when Mikey calmed under his touch and let out a sigh that sounded strangely familiar to "Raph".

"What did you do to him?" A voice whispered from behind Raph, causing him to jump.

"Shit, Don!" He replied in a hushed tone and faced his brother. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Donatello stood before him and waved the note that Raph had left on his pillow in his face. "'I'll be back in two days. Don't come looking for me.' Signed '-R... P.S. Don't tell Mikey.' What the hell is this all about, Raph?" Donnie asked.

"I can explain, Don." Raph began.

"Damn right you will! You two were gone for hours, then Mikey comes in around one, and started packing all his stuff into a bag. He wouldn't say a word to either me or Leo! He just packed his clothes and comics, then got into bed and tried to keep himself from crying for the next couples hours! He tried to hide it too, but Leo and I could hear him sobbing. He finally fell asleep about an hour ago. Do you know _how_ he fell asleep? He grabbed one the shirt you were wearing earlier today and clung to it. It was the only thing able to calm his down enough to fall asleep. Now, I'll ask you again. What'd you do to him? What the heck happened?"

Raph sighed and motioned for his brother to follow him outside so they could talk properly. Once they were on the fire escape, Raph closed the window and turned to Donatello to explain himself. "It was the only way, Don."

"What was?" Donnie asked, confused, "The only way for what?"

"You know as well as I do that Mikey would be better off being adopted by that couple ," Raph paused, and when Donnie nodded in agreement he continued. "Well, I had to make sure that he'd go. I tried to convince him that it was the best thing for him, but the damn, stubborn kid wouldn't listen. He insisted that he'd rather stay here with us, so I..." Raph trailed off.

Donatello put the pieces together. "You broke up with him."

Raph shook his head. "No, it was worse than that... I said so many things to him, Donnie. It was horrible. You soulda saw him. He... he-I," He stopped himself before he said something he would later regret, he'd already done so more than enough times that night.

Raphael couldn't even tell his brother his own feelings. He couldn't begin to say what it was like to see the hurt in Mikey's eyes. He had felt his heart clench with each cruel word he spoke, and even now it was still aching. It was difficult for him to do something as simple as breathe. He had tried to ignore it at the time, but how could he? All the pain he had caused his brother, he felt it reflect on himself. Only he knew it had to be so much worse on Mikey.

Raph felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked at Don to see a small, understanding smile. "I get it, Raph. But I still think you need to talk to him. Let him know you care."

Raph gave a sharp nod. "I will, but not yet. I'll wait 'til he's leaving Sunday so that it's too late for him to back out of going."

"Okay, but where are you going to stay?"

"At Casey's." Raph answered easily.

"Casey? As in Casey _Jones_? Raph we haven't seen that guy in years."

"I have. I just saw him the other week. He's living in some old apartment now, and working third shift at a warehouse."

Casey Jones was Raph's only friend other than his brothers growing up. He was like another big brother to him, except he was a huge trouble maker. Which would probably explain why he had never been adopted from the orphanage himself. About two years ago, when Casey had turned sixteen, he finally had had enough and ran away from the orphanage. None of them had seen him until about a year ago when Raph ran into him one night. Since then the two friends saw each other from time to time, but it wasn't like it was when they were kids.

"Fine, but what about training tomorrow? What are you gonna tell Master Splinter?"

Raph shrugged, "I don't know. I'll probably just go over there early to explain everything to him and see if I can do a solo practice or somethin'."

"Alright, Raph. But seriously, just make sure you patch things up with Mikey before he leaves. He's really beat up over this."

"Yeah, I know. I took it too far. I only hope he can forgive me."

Raphael then grabbed his pillowcase and started off towards Casey's for the weekend, leaving Donatello alone in the dark. Donnie reentered his room to find an awake Leo seated on his bed with his arms folded across his chest, waiting for answers. Don sighed, this was gonna take awhile.

* * *

-Okay, I know Raph went a little over board, but he wanted to make sure Mikey was convinced it was just best for him to leave. So, pretty much that whole time he was yelling at poor Mikey he was lying. Raph was just trying to do what he believed would be best for Mike. Chapter four shall be up in a few more days. Also, there should only be about six more chapters total, five regular and then an epilogue. Review please!

-Also, now that I think about it, I probably didn't chose the best title for this chapter, but oh well.


	4. We Need Each Other

A/N: So here is chapter four!

Disclaimer: Still don't own TMNT!

* * *

Chapter 4

We need each other

Raphael closed his cell phone with a sigh and glanced at the clock. It was eight o'clock on a Saturday night, and he had spent the day doing next to nothing. That morning he had managed to get in his training session with Master Splinter before his brothers had shown up, but he mostly spent the rest of the day mindlessly flipping though the channels on Casey's TV. He couldn't hang out with Casey much either since the guy slept all day so that he could work at night.

Raph flopped back onto the couch cushions and stared at the ceiling. As he studied the light blue paint Raph's mind couldn't help but wander to the thought of Michelangelo's eyes. He sighed and shut his eyes in frustration. It had been less than a day since he had seen his brother and yet he already missed him.

Raph couldn't stop replaying his words from last night over and over in his head. He knew he had to be convincing, but he really got carried away. Mikey must hate him now. Raph couldn't take back the words, or tell Mikey the reason he had said so many hurtful things; not yet at least, maybe a few years from now when the whole mess was blown over. Even if he did apologize would his brother ever be able to forgive him? Raphael knew the answer was undoubtedly yes; of course he would, but that only made him feel worse. He didn't deserve Mikey's kindness, he always had been too forgiving.

An image of a blond-haired, blue-eyed face floated into his mind. The boy gave him a wide, innocent smile. Raph felt himself grin at the memory of a young and happy Mikey, but that grin quickly changed into a frown as the image of Mikey began to morph. Mikey's smile faltered and his bright eyes turned sad as tears began to build up in them. The blue orbs were clouded with confusion and hurt and Raphael felt a stab in his chest as he began to recognize the same face from the night before.

He opened his eyes and brought his hands up to rub his temples. "Fuck. I can't get his damn face out of my head," he grumbled to himself.

He sighed again, he seemed to be doing that a lot today, as he remembered that after tomorrow he'll be seeing a lot less of that cute face. "Damn, I'm gonna miss him."

He let out yet another frustrated sigh and buried his face into the cushions. Eventually he began to doze off. His dreams filled with flashes of blond and blue, and the sweet sound of a certain brother's laughter.

* * *

Raphael was woken up about an hour later by the shadow of his friend looming over him. He sat up to allow Casey room to sit down. Casey took the seat before reaching and arm down beside the couch and bringing it back up with an ice cool, canned beverage.

"Sorry to wake you up, man. I know you need your sleep 'cause you didn't get any last night, but I figured you could use a friend. Even if it's only for five minutes before I leave," Casey said to Raph as he handed the can to him, "Here, this might help you some. Sorry I don't have anything stronger, but that probably wouldn't be a great idea anyways."

Raph took the offered drink, clicked the can open, and took a sip before turning to Casey. "Thanks, Casey. But where'd you manage to get beer? You're only eighteen."

Casey chuckled before answering, "Don't worry 'bout it, man, it's none of your business. I've got my methods, but from the looks of it and the way you've been moping around, I figured you could use some sorta pick me up."

Casey gave him a quick pat on the back and Raph laughed bitterly, "Thanks, Case. Am I that obvious?"

"Yeah, sorta, but it's okay. You know I always got your back, Raph, if you need to, like, talk to someone or somethin'," Casey said before standing up. "But right now I gotta get going. Y'know, work and all."

Raph nodded and offered his goodbye before he took another gulp from the can. Casey really was a great friend. They needed to hang out more often when they had the chance, but they both knew that Raph wasn't about to start telling him about his feelings and shit, not now, not ever. That's just the type of guy he was. Too stubborn to admit anything to anyone, other than Mikey that is.

Casey left Raph to his thoughts, he figured he'd need his alone time. Besides, he had to get to the warehouse, couldn't be late for work again. Casey was right about the needing to be alone. Mikey consumed Raphael's thoughts. However, the teen knew that, from other students at school as well as TV and movies, with each sip of the bitter-tasting drink it would start getting a bit better, a little easier to handle.

Before he knew it, the tin can was empty. Raph set the can aside and noticed that Casey had left the whole six-pack beside the couch. Instantly he grabbed his second one and repeated the same actions he had with the first, hoping to eventually forget about the pain of missing and hurting Mikey, even if just for a little while.

* * *

_~ a couple of hours earlier ~_

Donatello was startled from his research by the ringing of his cell. He reached across his bed to grab the device off his pillow. One glance at the screen revealed the familiar number of his hotheaded brother. He hesitated to answer for a moment, chancing a peek at Mikey. The blond was sitting on his bed, staring expressionlessly at the video game screen in his hands and halfheartedly tapping away at the controls.

He seemed not to be paying attention, but then again he had been like that all day. Deciding that it'd be safe to talk Don answered, "Hello?"

"Hey, Donnie," he heard Raphael greet. "Uh... I just called to... um... ask for help with my biology homework."

Donatello glanced at Raph's half-opened backpack that was laying on the ground beside his bed. He could clearly see the teen's biology text-book and folder inside. He rolled his eyes, his brother could be really stubborn at times. He knew very well Raph's true purpose for calling and that Raph was too worried about his image as being a tough guy to ask about Mikey. So, he figured why not have a little fun with him.

"Okay, whats the question asking?" Donnie asked.

"Oh, its uh... number eight on the homework sheet."

"I don't have the paper. You know that. I took biology last year, remember?" Although, Don was still in the same grade as his brothers, he was a year or two ahead of them in certain classes like maths and sciences.

"Then look at Leo's or Mikey's paper. They both have it."

"But Leo isn't here, he's still at Splinter's, and Mikey forgot his at school, remember? So, it'd be easier if you'd just read it to me."

Donnie had to hold back a laugh as he heard his brother growl on the other end of the line, growing frustrated. Donnie decided to take pity on his brother and get to the point of the phone call, "Look, we both know why you're really calling, so if you'd just stop being so darn stubborn and ask the question you really wanna know, then I'll tell you."

There was a pause on the other end of the line and Donatello almost thought that his brother was going to hang up when he heard a low mumble, "...ow's Mike..."

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. What did you say?" Donnie asked, taking the full advantage of being able to taunt Raph without him being able to fight back, although he wished it could be under better circumstances and not the pain of their smallest brother.

"I said, 'How's Mikey doing?' Alright?" The voice on the other line snapped.

"See, not that wasn't so bad, was it?"

Donatello heard a low grumble on the other side of the line and glanced over at again Mikey before answering the question. "He's... well he's okay, if you can even call it that." Don lowered his voice so as to not be over heard by Mikey.

"He's... not quite himself. He's hardly talked all day, which is really strange considering it's Mikey. He hasn't eaten anything either. Leo and I even offered to take him out for pizza for lunch and he refused. He's just been altering between playing the same video game and sitting up on the roof all day. Even at training today he was like -I don't know- almost like a robot or something. He wouldn't show any emotion and he didn't seem to feel any pain at all. When he and Leo had been sparring, Leo had accidentally kicked his bad ankle and Mikey did nothing. No yelling, no complaining, not so much as a wince. He really starting to worry me."

Donatello waited for Raph's response, but was only met by silence so he continued, "I know this isn't what you wanted to hear. You wanted to hear that he was fine and sucking it up. That he was back to his old self, pranking and joking around, and that whole little episode from last night when he returned was the end of his pain. But the truth is that he _needs_ you. Just like you need him. It's like he can't... function without you. And I know you're the same.

"I'm telling you this because you need to make sure that you tell him that you _do_ care. Don't let him leave with things still like this between the two of you. Seriously, you two need each other and he needs to know that you still care, and he need to hear that from you or he won't believe it otherwise. So be sure to tell him."

Donnie paused, waiting for a reply that he knew wasn't going to come. Finally, he heard the other line hang up and he flipped his phone closed himself. He almost felt bad, but one look at Michelangelo changed that. Raphael needed to hear the result of what he had done to Mikey, and that maybe going through with this really wasn't the best thing for their brother.

Mikey looked up from the screen to see his genius brother watching him. "It was Raph, wasn't it." It was a statement, not a question.

Donnie nodded. Apparently he hadn't spoken softly enough. How much had Mikey heard? Enough to piece together who he was talking to, but that wouldn't have been too difficult. Plus Mikey was smarter than any of them gave him credit for.

Mikey scoffed. "What did he want? To see if it was safe to come back yet? To see if I was still hanging around," Mikey said in the monotone voice he had been speaking in all day.

Donatello's eyes softened, Mikey and Raph weren't the only ones feeling pain. It hurt to see his brothers like this, and he knew Leonardo felt the same.

"Mikey, I know you don't believe me when I say this, but Raph cares about you-,"

Donnie was cutoff by a bitter laugh coming from Mikey. He had been waiting all day to hear some kind of emotion from his normally energetic brother, but now he wished he hadn't. It broke his heart to hear so much pain in the young voice.

"He does, Mikey. You know that he does, deep down." Donnie said, before letting the subject go. He knew it was do no good coming from him. Mikey needed to hear it from Raphael. Then maybe he'd believe it.

Michelangelo didn't say anymore either. He felt a part of him become hopeful, overjoyed when his suspicion was confirmed. 'Maybe Raph really does care' a small voice had said. However, he quickly crushed the source of that hopeful voice and shoved it into the closet with the rest of his emotions before locking the door.

After the night of suffering he had experienced he didn't want anymore. He thought that it had hurt when it broke his leg when he was ten by trying to skateboard down a ramp and over a fountain, boy was he wrong. All the things that Raph had said, each word had been like and individual shard of glass piercing him. Of course, in hindsight he should have seen this coming a mile away, but then again he never was that bright. Still, even someone like him should have known that it was too good to be true. For Raph and him to have such a perfect relationship; that type of thing only happened in dreams, or fairytales, not in real life, not to him anyways.

Mikey turned cold eyes over to the article of clothing that was crumpled beneath his pillow. A red T-shirt with a simple motorcycle print layed there, it was the only thing that had managed to bring him any sort of comfort the night before. It was one of Raph's favorite shirts, he wore it all the time, and they had so many memories that went hand in hand with the item. Suddenly, a part of Mikey's subconscious was consumed with the urge to stuff it inside his bag, so he knew he'd always have a piece of Raphie with him. So, he did.

It was strange, but Michelangelo felt the weight on his chest lift a fraction knowing now that a part of Raph would be with him wherever he went. However, he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Maybe it'd just serve as a reminder of the pain this whole thing caused him, but right now he didn't care. He glanced over to check if Donnie had seen his theft, but he was safe, it seemed to have gone unnoticed by the other brother.

Mikey sighed, what was wrong with him? Was he really so desperate that he'd take his brother's shirt? "Raph, what have you done to me?" He whispered to himself.

"What was that?" Donnie looked to him and asked.

"Huh?" Mikey looked back innocently.

"Did you say something?" His brother asked.

Mikey just shook his head, to which Don replied with a simple, "Oh. My mistake," before returning his somewhat attention to the hand-held game in his lap.

* * *

-Yeah, sorry that this chapter was probably pretty boring, but chapter five should be much more interesting since Mikey is supposed to be leaving. Review, please! And thank you so much for those of you who have! :)


	5. I'll Be There

A/N: Finally got chapter 5 up. I meant to get it on here yesterday, but I was feeling really lazy. : /

Disclaimer: TMNT is not owned by me!

* * *

Chapter 5

I'll Be There

Raphael was woken up early Sunday morning by the banging of a fist against wooden door. He slowly blinked his eyes opened and sat himself up on the couch. He groaned and rubbed his head as he heard another round of loud knocking coming from the front door. Since it didn't appear that Casey had returned home from work yet, Raph mad his way across the apartment to open the door.

"Who the hell is up this early?" He mumbled to himself as turned the lock and began opening the door.

He had planned on yelling at the moron who had decided it was a good idea to go knocking down peoples' doors so early, but stopped upon seeing his brother. "Leo?" Raph asked confused, "What are you doing here? And why are you being so damn loud?"

"I'm here to get you. Mikey's leaving and we can't let him go while things are still like this between the two of you." Leo said before grabbing Raph's arm and trying to pull him out of the confines of the apartment.

"Huh?" Raph said, still not fully awake. He looked to the nearest clock to see a short, thick black line pointing between the numbers six and seven while a longer, but skinner, black line to be pointing close to the number six as well.

"It's only six thirty, Leo," Raph turned back to his brother, "Mikey isn't leaving 'til later."

Leonardo shook his head. "No, Raph. He's leaving soon, real soon. Donnie tried calling you, must have been about twenty times or so, but you never answered. We decided that I'd come get you while Don tries to stall them." Leo tried to pull Raph along again, but he wouldn't budge from the doorway.

More confused than ever, Raphael asked, "Wait, what? Stall who? What changed? Why's Mike leaving so soon now?" He quickly pulled his phone from his pocket to see that Leo was right. He had eighteen missed calls, but didn't get any of them for his phone had been on silent.

Leo sighed impatiently, but then began speaking so quickly Raph could barely keep up. "Look, if you want to see Mikey off then we really don't have time for this. Apparently the Parkers called early this morning to ask Mrs. O'Neil if the could get Mikey earlier rather than later. Mrs. O'Neil woke us up around six to let Mikey know that they'd be coming soon and that he needed to get ready. She hasn't let Mikey out of her sight since, probably so he can't try to disappear on her. Donnie tried calling you, but when he couldn't get a hold of you I said I'd come and get you since he didn't know where Casey lived. Don said that he'd try to stall them as long as he can, but I'm sure they've already arrived and have been there for a while by now so we have to _go_, Raph. Now come on." Leo, out of breath from his explanation, attempted to get his brother moving once again and succeeded this time.

Raphael shut the door behind him and followed his brother as they broke into a run. He had so many questions, How did Leo know where Casey lived? He thought he was the only one who knew. And had the director changed the time on purpose so that Mikey wouldn't have a chance to run off? Not that he was going to anyways this time. Also, Leo said the Parkers called _earlier_ this morning? What time was that? It's only six thirty as it is, they must have called at -what?- three? Four? Geez, old people really do get up early. He thought Splinter was crazy for waking up at quarter after five everyday.

Raphael let those questions go, none of them mattered right now. What mattered was that he need to get to Mikey before it was too late and he was gone.

* * *

"Oh, but Mikey. Don't you think you should double-check that you've got everything? Don't wanna forget something important," Donatello said to his brother while trying to grab the bag of his brother's belongings out of his hand. "Here, I'll check for you."

"Thanks, but no thanks, Donnie," Michelangelo said, tugging his bag from his brother's grip while stepping though the doorway and onto the stairs at the entrance to the orphanage. "You've already 'double-checked', like, four or five times now."

"And each time I've found something that you forgot to pack," Donnie said, trying to make a point.

Mikey let out a small laugh, but Don could tell there was something different about it. This laugh sounded wrong coming from him, it was lacking something that Mikey had seemed to of lost just the other day and had yet to recover.

"No, bro. I'm pretty sure that you _took_ something out each time."

"Why would I do that?" Don tried to sound innocent.

"To slow me down," Mikey said as he placed his bag into the trunk of the Parkers' car which was parked in front of the orphanage with both of the Parkers already inside, waiting for their newly adopted son to finish saying his farewells.

"Well, what about Leo? You haven't said goodbye to him yet."

"We said goodbye earlier, before he left somewhere. He said that he planned on being back before I left, but just in case wanted to say goodbye before he left. He also told me he felt that I should know that 'he was always proud to call me his brother, even if he had ever said or done something to lead me to believe other wise,' or something like that."

Mikey stepped back onto the side-walk to stand before his brother. "Are you sure you don't want to check the room one more time? Just to be sure? Or maybe you should use the bathroom before you go. It's a long trip." Donnie's rambling was stopped when Mikey gave him a small smile.

"I know what you're trying to do, Don," Mikey tone was serious, and Don didn't like it, it didn't match the carefree spirit his brother normally possessed. "But Raph's not gonna show up. He wanted me to leave, and I understand that. After all, all I ever did was annoy him." Mikey shrugged. "Who could blame him for wanting me gone, but like I said, I get it. So it's fine. You don't need to keep trying to hold things up, hoping that he'll show up."

Donnie gave his brother a smile before embracing him. "Love ya, bro. I'm gonna miss not having someone around to do my homework for me." They chuckled softly as the let go.

Michelangelo stepped to the side and looked up and the man standing beside his brother. "Goodbye, sensei." Mikey wrapped his arms around Splinter and felt the gesture returned. "I'll miss you, and don't worry. I'm still gonna train everyday! And..." He lowered his voice slightly, "You'll always be my father. No mater what."

Hamato smiled softly at Mikey. Of course he had known about the teen's leaving, but it was Donatello who had contacted him this morning to inform him that the departure was going to be sooner than originally expected. "And you'll always be my son, Michelangelo, but remember, this isn't really goodbye. You will still be able to speak to your brothers and myself from time to time, and we will see each other again, just not as often."

Mikey nodded at Splinter before turning his gaze over towards April, who was standing beside her mother on the steps. He smiled and waved at April who immediately returned the wave and shouted her farewells to him.

Michelangelo took a quick look around the street, searching for something, or someone, but wouldn't admit it. He was ready to join his new, waiting parents inside the car when Donatello placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

He turned to meet Donnie's gaze. "He cares, Mikey, he does. I know he wanted to be here to say goodbye, and I don't want you leaving here thinking that Raphael doesn't care about you because that's not true."

Then shorter teen nodded, "I know."

He wasn't lying. A small part of him did truly believe that Raph still loved him. Believed that the whole show from the other night was just that, a show. Raph hadn't meant any of the things he had yelled and shouted at him. He only wanted what he believed was best for his little brother and would go though any means necessary to give it to him. However, that small part of Michelangelo was dormant, unconscious, not awake or aware. That tiny part that knew the truth had been over powered by all his anxiety and insecurities that had become overly active during Raphael's tirade. He knew, deep down, that Raphael would always care, always be there for him, but on the surface he was oblivious to that wiser section of himself.

Mikey climbed into the back seat of the car and closed the door behind him. Donatello watched as his brother waved through the window at their master and himself as the car started down the street. However, his noticed that his eyes weren't focused on either of them,instead they continued to search the street over and over, desperately seeking someone who wasn't there.

As he turned to watch the car slow down to make a turn he heard a breathless voice running up from behind. "Mikey! Where- where's Mikey?" The voice gasped out.

Donnie just pointed at the vehicle as it began to disappear around the corner. He heard a sharp growl before a gust of air whooshed by him as he watched Raphael take off down the side-walk in pursuit of the car.

Raph kept his stare at the point where the car had vanished from his view as he continued down the sidewalk as fast as his feet would carry him. He reached the corner and looked in the direction where the car holding Mikey had last been, but the street was empty and the car long gone. He felt a mixture of rage and sorrow build up inside him and his dropped onto his knees in defeat. He was too late.

He knew that it wasn't like it was goodbye forever. He should be able to visit Mikey in a few weeks, a couple of months at most. Plus, he could talk to him on the phone whenever, right? However, there was something inside him telling him differently. The voice, the feeling, whatever it was, it was telling Raph that this had been his last chance to see Michelangelo for a long time. A very long time. That was why it was so important for him to make things right before Mikey had left.

Anger started building up. He was so close, _so close_. Thirty seconds earlier and he would've been able to say his piece. Now Mikey was gone, still believing that Raph hated the very sight of him. The rage continued to build up. He shouldn't have ever said anything. There had to have been a better way of convincing him to go. Donnie would've known. If only he had thought long enough to ask his genius brother instead following his rash actions. He couldn't take it anymore, he had to lash out on something, get the anger out of his system.

Raph raised a fist and struck the closed thing with full force, the ground. His other first followed seconds later. He struck the sidewalk repeatedly. Not feeling the sharp pains slicing through his hands, and not registering the skin ripping over his knuckles or the blood as it began to flow from the broken skin. He just needed to strike something and wouldn't stop until the anger and rage went away.

* * *

Raphael was seated on the rooftop, overlooking the city. He was sitting at the same spot where he had last spoken to Mikey. It had been thirty six hours since his brother left, and, just as Raph had predicted, he was already missing the other teen like crazy. Raph didn't go to school that day, and had been excused from training early because he kept zoning out and losing focus too often.

Suddenly, he felt the presence of someone else on the roof with him. He listened as they approached him, stopping a couple of steps behind him, before he spoke. "Ain't it funny," he gave a small bitter laugh and played with the bandages on his hands, "how I always wanted to protect Mikey. Wanted to prevent any harm from ever reaching him, and in the end I caused him more pain than any of those goons who tried to use him as bait that one time, or the cowards who ganged up on him."

The person who stood behind him was silent for several moments before saying, "Donnie's on the phone with him now. Maybe you should come talk to him."

Raph didn't move or say a thing, just continued to watch the lights as he did the last time he was with Mikey. Leonardo took a few steps closer and placed a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder. "Raph, you need to make things right with Mikey."

Raphael had seemed to be in a constant state of anger since Michelangelo had left. It had been less than two days, but that didn't stop the teen from lashing out at anything and everything. Raph felt the anger building again and knew he was only a moment or two away from snapping at Leo.

"Raphael," Leo said, hoping to get through to his brother, "You can't just ignore him, you know that."

That was just enough for Raph to boil over. Why would he want to ignore Mikey? And what gives Leo the right to be so hypocritical about it? Raphael roughly brushed the hand from his shoulder and stood up to turn towards his brother. "Don't start with me, Leo. Don't you _even_ start!" Raph pointed an accusing finger at his brother. "You're such a hypocrite! _You_ were the one pretending he didn't even exist for weeks!"

"No, Raph. I know I was wrong, but I wasn't ignoring either of you-," Leo defended, but was cut off.

"Yes! Yes, you were. You left the room when we so much as looked at each other, and I saw the looks of disgust you would give me! How do you think that made him feel, Leo? Huh? To think that his big brother who he was supposed to look up to was angry at him or ashamed of him or despised him because of something he couldn't very much help, something that made him happy."

Leonardo shook his head and tried to stay calm. "I wasn't ashamed of the two of you, and I could never hate either of you. I wasn't angry with _you_, I was angry with myself, Raph! And I certainly wasn't giving you any disgusted looks."

Raphael's rage way growing. Why wouldn't he just admit he was wrong? Why was he making up excuses? "Oh really?! Well then, tell me. What kind of looks were they? And why would you be so angry at yourself?" When Leo hesitated to answer Raph snorted, "That's what I thought. You're so full of shit, Leo."

Raph began to walk away, but as he passed Leo, the teen caught his arm. Raph paused to look at his brother, waiting for a response, and after another moment Leo finally spoke. "They were looks of envy..."

"Huh?" Raphael couldn't have heard that right.

Leo sighed at let his brother's arm go. He started it, might as well tell him everything. Leo looked his brother in the eyes with a serious gaze. "They were looks of envy, Raph. I was jealous of you."

"Jeal... _jealous?_" Raph was becoming thoroughly confused.

Leonardo nodded. "Don't get me wrong, I wasn't jealous of you because I wanted Mike or anything. I was jealous of what the two of you had, _have_. It was so easy for you guys to go from brothers to... more than that, and you and Mikey were always so happy together, like you completed one another. That's what I was jealous of."

Raph was still pretty confused. "But... Leo, you could probably have any girl in our school- no, in the entire city that you want, heck or guy for that matter." Raph wasn't about to admit it, but Leo was pretty damn good-looking, he had absolutely nothing on his Mikey in his opinion, but all the girls on the block were constantly fawning over Leo.

Leo shook his head again and looked to the ground. "Not _anyone_."

"Wait, who is it that you want?" Raph was curious, he never noticed that his brother had his eye on anyone particular.

"Don." Leonardo's voice dropped to a whisper, too afraid to let anyone hear his secret.

"Donnie?!" Raph yelled, causing Leo to jump and look around to make sure no one had heard.

"Shh, Raph! _Yes_ Donnie. That's why I was jealous. Why was it so easy for you and Mikey, but so hard for me and Don? Why could Mikey so readily return your feelings while Don will never return mine? That's why I was angry at myself. For never confronting him, for being too damn afraid to, for never going after what I wanted for years. When I'd see Mikey and you together, it only made me think of what could have been, what can be, with Donnie and I'd just get so angry that I had to leave. I couldn't trust myself to speak to either of you because I was afraid of letting something slip."

Raphael felt almost dumb. How hadn't he figured this out earlier? There had to be signs. "Why don't you just tell him already? Whats the worse that could happen?"

Leo shook his head again. "Worse that could happen? He could hate me, never talk to me again, be disgusted. Besides, you know as well as I do how he feels about April."

"Y'know Donnie would never hate you or anythin' like that. Who knows, maybe he already figured it out. He knew mine and Mike's feeling before we even did. Plus, April doesn't seem that interested in him, does she?"

Leo just shook his head and started to make his was towards that fire escape, Raph followed shortly behind. "You had the courage to tell Mikey how you felt, but there's no way that I can tell Don, not yet at least." Leo stopped at looked at Raph, "Don't mention anything to Donnie. Please, Raph."

"Alright," Raph gave his brother an almost sympathetic smile, "but it's gonna cost ya, bro."

* * *

- So Mikey's gone, for now. And we finally know what was up with Leo this whole time, but I'll just let you know now that nothing develops between Leo and Donnie. Also, don't worry about Mikey leaving, there's still three more chapters (and possible an epilogue) for everything to be sorted out. So, please review, and thanks again for the awesome reviews I've already got!


	6. You'll Be in my Heart

A/N: Sorry it took so long to finally update. I was having problems with my computer earlier this week, but since it took me so long I'm hoping to put chapter seven up right away tomorrow.

Disclaimer: I do not own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Although, it'd be awesome if I did.

* * *

Chapter 6

You'll Be In My Heart

Time passed since Michelangelo's adoption, hours turned to days, and days to weeks. However, to Raphael, everything was a blur. Time, school, training, even his brothers, they all mashed into the same, slow haze that he now lived in without Mikey. Time seemed to be flying past him, leaving him behind in an eternity of angst. Mike had been the sunshine in their dark and dreary life. Leonardo and Donatello were missing the goof ball every bit as much as their brother, but they seemed to be able to handle their emotions better.

It had been nearly a month since Mikey left to live with the Parkers, and Raphael didn't know how it was possible, but he somehow missed the teen more and more with each passing day. Mikey called them of course, but only about twice a week, if they were lucky. Also, the phone calls never lasted more than four or five minutes because Mikey could no longer use his cell phone due to the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Parker refused to let their son be "one of those teenagers whose lives were practically consumed by technology". So Mikey had to call his brothers sporadically with the house phone, only to be saying goodbye moments later because he had an extracurricular activity like sports practice, or drum lessons, or one of his new parents needed the phone for business.

Needless to say that with these unorganized and brief phone calls, Raph hardly got the chance to say a simple hello to his brother, let alone have their much-needed, heart to heart conversation. Not to mention that Raphael's chances to talk to Mikey were cut in half because the hot head was constantly out roaming the city all afternoon and half the night, not being able to be cooped up in the room which held too many memories, and missing many of the calls. Not that it mattered, because even the very few chances that Raph did get to speak with Mikey, the conversations were hesitant and awkward and just plain wrong! They consisted of shy "hello"s and murmured "how are ya"s before the were soon cut short by another one of Mikey's many activities he was now involved in. It frustrated Raph to no end, things weren't supposed to be like that between him and Mikey! They were the closest among the four brothers as children, always getting in and out of trouble together and messing with their other two brothers. Leaving things how they were now was just down right wrong!

Raphael growled and rolled over in his bed to shove his face into his pillow. It was a weekday afternoon and the three boys had just gotten home from training with Master Splinter not too long ago. For once Raph decided not to leave immediately in an attempt to clear his head, he knew it never worked anyways. Instead he was trying to get some sleep, and even though it was still early, hardly even six o'clock, Raph hadn't had a proper night's sleep since the night before he had the haunting argument with Michelangelo all those weeks ago.

Raph tried to cheer himself up with the memory of what their master had told them earlier that afternoon. That this weekend -Saturday morning to be exact, less than two days away since it was now Thursday- he would be taking the three of them to the town were Mikey lived with his adoptive parents for a visit. Raph had to try hard to hid his glee at first. He'd finally be seeing his Mikey again! But then he remembered how badly he had hurt his brother, and had to start formulating what he would say in an attempt to set everything right, if that was even possible. However, he had no idea what to say, he was never good with words or planing anything out so why was he trying? Once he opened his big, fat mouth to Mikey everything he thought through was probably going to go straight to hell like it always seemed to.

Raphael sighed into the pillow before hearing the faint ringing of Donatello's cellphone. He picked his head up and looked at Donnie, who was abandoning his homework in favor for answering his cell. Don glanced at the number and was confused to not recognize it as Mikey's house number, but they all knew it had to be Mikey, nobody else called them after all. Trying not to look too eager, Raph stood up and walked over to Don's bed where his brother was sitting and flipping open his phone. He sat on the bed opposite, completely forgetting for the moment that it was Mikey's bed. Leo joined them, sitting beside Donnie on his bed, leaning in a bit too close to just be friendly. Raph had never noticed before, but now that he knew Leo's feeling for their genius brother, he picked up on all these subtle actions towards Donnie.

"Hey, Mikey!" Don greeted enthusiastically, happy to finally hear from his brother again after so many days. "Oh, wait. Hold up a second, I'm going to put you on speaker," Don took the phone away from he ear to press a button before laying the phone down on the bed in font of him, "Okay, you're good now, we're all here."

Seconds later Mikey's voice resounded throughout the small room, "Hiya, Leo! Hey- Raph." Neither Leo or Don picked up on the slight hesitation in the happy-go-lucky voice before it said Raphael's name, but he sure did.

"Hey, Mike," came the simultaneous response from both Leo and Raph, Leo's being a bit more confident.

"So whats new, Mikey," Donatello asked to start up the conversation.

"Eh, nothing exciting. Same old practices and lessons and stupid school work, it's soooo boring! But I guess it keeps me busy and- Oh, I know!" The voice on the other end of the live suddenly became excited. "So you guys will never guess what happened! I was walking around the other day, trying to find another good pizza parlor in this town because really, I've only found like, two so far I mean this town _really _needs an upgrade in the food category, but anyways I was walking when I saw this poor, little kitty being attacked by some nasty, stray dogs! So I..."

Raphael listened with his brothers to Mikey's story about saving a small, helpless alley cat from some mutts. Leo and Don put in the occasional comment here or there, and asked a few questions while he remained silent and just focused on the sound of Mikey's voice. The conversation eventually progressed from he cat story to how his new, expensive, privet school was, -Mikey hated it by the way, never said so, but he didn't have to it was obvious to them all- and what it was like to be in so many extracurricular activities, and about the new friends he's made, and his new parents, and so on.

Eventually, Raph realized that the four of them must have been talk for well over twenty minutes by now. This never happened, his phone calls were always under five minutes, not that he was complaining, but it was rare. Then Raph knew something wasn't right when the subject of the brothers finally being able to meet this weekend came up and Mikey was hesitant.

"What's up, Mikey?" Leo asked, also picking up on Michelangelo's hesitancy.

"Oh it's nothing, Leo, but that's the main reason why I called you. I wanted to tell you that I don't think I'll be able to meet up with your guys and Splinter Saturday." Mikey said slowly.

"Why not?" Donnie asked curiously and a little saddened at the possibility of not finally being able to see their brother again.

"Well, because we're... going on vacation. We're leaving tomorrow." Mikey said, not sounding too sure of himself.

"Where to? For how long?" Raph spoke for the first time since greeting Mikey, but it came out more as a snarl. He was pissed off, here he though he'd finally be seeing Mike again and now he finds out he's leaving on vacation the day before their planned meeting.

There was a pause on the other line before Mikey finally said, faking his enthusiasm, "To Britain! Mrs. Parker- Uh, I mean _mom_, told me that she always did like England best from their travels. She wants to go there again, and they already own a house in some town called Roatinden? Wait no, it's Rottenden!"

"Do you mean Rottingdean, Mikey?" Don asked.

"Yeah! That's it! How'd you know, Donnie?"

"Lucky guess," Don said with a shrug. He always had been the only one to pay attention in geography.

"Okay, well anyways, she really enjoyed their trips there I guess, and wants to go back and visit. She said that-" Mikey was cut off by Raphael.

"For how long, Mike?" Raph asked again forcefully, he could tell the teen was trying to avoid the second part of his question.

"Err... We're not sure," Mikey's voice became a bit quieter. "Maybe just until spring. They said-"

"_Spring?!_ You're staying there til spring time when its only mid October now?!" Raphael cut Mikey off again. He couldn't believe it, Mikey had only been living with that couple for barely a month and they were already taking him to England for several more! Who goes on like a five month vacation anyways? Raph's brain faintly registered Michelangelo explaining to his brothers how he would be enrolled in another private school over there for the rest of the autumn, winter, and spring semesters, and him reassuring them that he'd still stay in contact just as often.

However, Raph wasn't about to sit by and actually _let_ this happen. He didn't care what he had to do to stop it, he'd kidnap Mikey if it came to it. "When are you leaving?" He cut of Leo off in the middle of a sentence.

"Friday."

"You mean tomorrow?" Raph continued to question.

"Yeah..." Mikey answered, confused as to why of all his brothers, Raph was so concerned about his departure.

"What time?"

"Raph, I don't understand—-."

"Dammit, what time, Mikey?!"

"We leave at uhh...two o'clock, I think."

"In the evening?"

"No... in the morning, tomorrow morning."

Raphael growled again, "You're tellin' me that you're leaving to another country in less than eight hours?!" Raph grabbed his sweatshirt and headed for the door before asking, "What airport?"

"Huh?" Mikey asked thoroughly confused now. "Raph why do you wanna know-"

"Just tell me the name of the air port, Mikey!" Raph said growing more and more impatient.

He lingered at the door long enough for Mikey to stutter out the name before leaving the room and calling over his shoulder, "I'm comin' for ya, Mike."

* * *

So here Raphael stood approximately six and a half hours later, before the wall of windows at an airport at 12:30 in the morning. He watched through the glass as the snow flurries fell softly, melting the instant they touched ground. Instead of the delicate flakes, green eyes were focused on the large air plane which he had been told currently held his brother, Michelangelo. He had failed. Again.

It seemed like nearly everything that could possibly go wrong, did. The first thing that Raph had done after exiting the orphanage back home so many hours ago was run. He ran block after block until he reached Splinter's house, hoping he'd be able to convince his ninjutsu master to drive him to the airport. However, upon arrival, he discovered that his sensei was no longer at home, nor was his vehicle. Raph was getting ready to panic, thinking he had no other form of transportation, when he remembered Casey. The teen then took of in the direction of Casey's house, well aware that it was now almost twice as far as it would have been had he left straight from the orphanage. Despite his already burring lungs and the numbness in he legs from the ceaseless running, he sprinted the entire way to his friend's house.

Fortunately, Casey had agreed to assisting Raph in his journey to get to Mikey before he left. However, first they had to drop by the warehouse where he worked so Casey could inform the manager that he wouldn't be able to make his shift that night. As well as, pick up his pay check; they also had to stop at the bank to cash said pay check so that they would be able to buy enough gas to reach the air port.

In the midst of all this, Raph had received a phone call from his brothers, Leonardo and Donatello, ordering him to have Casey pick them up and haul them along as well for they weren't going to be left behind at the opportunity of seeing Mikey. Raph had nearly protested, reminding his brothers that he didn't want to waist time and a trip to the orphanage wasn't exactly on the way, until Donnie brought up the fact that Raph didn't even begin to know how to get there, he had been too focused on getting moving to reach Mike in time that he hadn't considered that he didn't know where he was going.

His genius brother, on the other hand, did. He had searched up both the location and directions soon after Raph's departure, and so the hot head didn't have much of a choice but to tell Casey to make yet another stop, although he probably would have felt guilty if he had left his brothers behind.

After what seemed to be the longest five hours of Raph's life, their drive being delayed by rest stops and traffic jams, they entered the city where the air port was located. Another half hour or so passed and the three brothers along with Casey mad it to the air port itself where Mikey had told them he'd be at. The four also believed that they still had over two hours before their brother's departure, but one glance at the flight schedule told them different. According to the schedule, Mikey's plane wasn't supposed to leave at 2:00, but at 12:30, less than forty-five minutes from that point.

Raphael grew frustrated. Mikey was already, no doubt, pass all the check ins and security, waiting in a lobby to board his plane if he had not done so already. Raph's frustration was fueled by his impatience. Why were all the lines so damn long?! It's not like they were getting on the planes themselves, whats with all the hassle? He was ready to just barge through all the annoying employees and just run to where ever Mikey was, but his brothers kept him in check, reminding him why that would be problematic.

By the time they had finally made it through to the terminal, Raph was praying that it wouldn't be too late. After all there was still ten minutes till the plane was supposed to take off, but in the back of his mind he knew better. The four of them dashed through the waiting area as last-minute passengers were quickly boarding the plane. Raph slammed into the counter, having built up too much momentum to be able to have stopped himself in time. He was prepared to reason and plea with the staff, anything to just get a word with Mikey, but before he could catch he breath, something caught his eye. A flash of bright, blond hair, closely followed by two guardian figures, passed the counter, approaching the doors. Raph stared in disbelief; it was Mikey! He was shocked as he watched Mikey, head too focused on the ground beneath his feet to have noticed his brothers. Raph snapped himself out of it as he saw Mikey step through the doors, leaving his sight, he finally called out, not wanting him to leave without a goodbye a second time.

"Mikey!" Blue orbs widened in surprise and Mikey froze as he stepped passed the doors and into the hallway, leading to the air plane. He knew that voice. Mikey quickly lifted his gaze and swiveled his head around to find out who had called to him. However, Michelangelo only caught a glimpse of three, familiar figures before the cold doors slammed in his face.

Mikey reached out, ready to reopen the doors, still not being able to wrap his head around the possibility of it being his brothers in the other room, the possibility that it had been Raph to call to him. His hand rested on the door knob, but he just watched it, not turning the handle. Mikey shook his head, clearing his mind. It couldn't have been them, Mikey had told them the wrong time by accident, if they were going to show up they wouldn't be here already. It was just his imagination, he often heard Raph's voice calling to him in his head and in his dreams lately anyways.

Mikey felt a comforting hand on his shoulder and looked beside him to see his new mother smiling sweetly at him. He took one last, lingering glance at the door before nodding to her and accompanying her to the plane.

Minutes later Raph stood, staring through the glass at the stationary plane. He felt so helpless knowing that Mikey was so close, but there was no way for him to possibly reach him now. It was too late; he had failed Michelangelo once again. For some strange reason, he had known Mikey would be gone much longer than a couple months, despite his brother's reassurance that it was only until spring. And that's what bothered him the most; the unknown. Him not knowing how long he'd have to live without Michelangelo from now on, but one thing he did know is that he'd eventually find his way back to Mikey, no matter what.

* * *

- Sorry for the downer ending to this chapter, that's another reason why I wanna get chapter seven on here as soon as possible. Also, please keep the reviews coming!


	7. When Destiny Calls

A/N: First of all, don't hate me. Another character is introduced, but I sorta changed their gender, and along with the gender change they will probably be way OOC, so please don't get angry!

Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT.

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Chapter 7

When Destiny Calls

_About 3 years and 2 months later_

Raphael was rudely awaken one December morning by the surface of a pillow landing on his face. He instantly shot up, gasping for breath as the disembodied voice that filled his dreams continued to echo in his head. Raph calmed himself as he realized he had only been dreaming, but was awake now and his mistakes, blue orbs, and bubbly laughter of his past couldn't haunt him subconsciously any longer.

He turned his head side to side to take in the room around him. The small room normally contained two beds, two matching desks, a small refrigerator, and a few storage cabinets, as well as multiple other small touches added by the pair who occupied the dorm. The place never did have much inside it, however, Raph was still slightly surprised to find it now completely empty, save for the beds and desks.

"Let's go, Raph. Don't wanna be late."

Raph looked to Leonardo who was standing in the door way, holding a single cardboard box."What happened to our stuff?"

"Well everything was already packed so I decided I'd let you sleep a little longer and put everything in the car myself, except for your bedding and the suitcase with your clothes. I warned you not to stay up half the night, you knew we were leaving for Splinter's early today."

Raph removed himself from his bed and began rolling up his blankets and pillow into a large, unorganized pile. He tilted his head over his shoulder to direct a question at his brother, "What time is it anyways? Feels like it's still the middle of the night."

"It's just after six, but if we want to get to Splinter's by noon and pick up Usagi first then we need to get going." Leo said before leaving to put the last box inside the waiting car outside.

Alone in the collage dorm room he shared with Leo, Raph grabbed his suitcase that contained the few _clean_ clothes he had left and opened it. Raph grabbed his usual, basic attire, jeans, a t-shirt, and since it was a cold, December morning, his coat. After visiting the bathroom to take a quick shower and get himself ready, he returned to his room to find Leo gathering his bed materials to pack into the car as well. Raph shoved his clothes he had been wearing into his suitcase before shutting it and accompanying his brother down the stairs and to their car.

Stuffing the remainders of their possessions into the trunk of their car, Leo shut the car door before announcing, "Well, that's everything." The brothers got into the car and began driving in the direction of Usagi's dorm. Upon arrival to the building, the brothers saw a young woman, waiting outside the door with few suitcases and bags. She had long, brown hair, pulled back into a neat ponytail that blowed lightly in the winter wind. Her pale skin was covered underneath bundles of coats, scarves, and gloves. Seeing the familiar car, she smiled and waved to the brothers.

Leo parked the car and got out to greet the girl. Raphael followed not far behind and was greeted warmly by the hazel-eyed girl. The three of them managed to carry all the girl's belonging's in a single trip to place into the vehicle before they were on their way again.

"I can't wait to meet the rest of your family, Leo." Usagi said excitedly from the backseat.

"I think the feeling's mutual. Donnie is already at Splinter's, he got there earlier this week, and I talked to bother him and my father and they seem really eager to finally meet you too." Leo responded, eyes focused on the next turn they needed to make.

"I already feel like I know Donatello so well after all the phone calls and all, but I can't wait to finally meet the great Hamato Yoshi who taught you guys all that amazing stuff," She said before directing her attention to Raphael. "So Raph, How did you do on your finals? I remember taking them for the first time as a freshman last year, despised it."

As the three of them carried on their conversation Raph fought off the drowsiness of being awake so early in the morning and thought about finally getting to see the rest of his family again. So many things had changed since Michelangelo had left just over three years ago.

After graduating high school, the three remaining brothers continued on to college. Around the same time as their graduation, Splinter had gone into retirement from -whatever his job had been- and had moved out of the city into a rather large house for someone who planned to live on their own. The man also _insisted_ on paying for the three brothers to get the college education he believed they deserved. Donatello, of course, hadn't needed if for he had gotten a full academic scholarship to an Ivy League school, which they were all proud of him for. However, Raphael and Leonardo didn't have the brains their genius brother did, and although they weren't 'dumb' by any standards, they just didn't have the wits to get themselves a full scholarship to any school let alone an Ivy League one no mater how hard they would try. So, the remaining two accepted their sensei's persistent offers, but vowed to pay back every cent.

Leo and Raph had ended up going to the same college and even sharing the same dorm together. Their school wasn't _too_ far from Donnie's, so the three of them still saw each other several times a month when they weren't busy with school or their part time jobs.

Also, Leo had been lucky enough to come across a new friend. He'd met a sophomore by the name of Usagi while searching the library for martial arts based books. As it turns out, she was a highly skilled samurai, and after an afternoon of discussing skills and techniques and debating which type of warrior would win in a battle, the two actually became good friends. From then on, Leo spent much of his free time with Usagi, which was find by Raph since he always got into an argument if he spent too much time with that particular brother. Eventually, the pairs' friendship blossomed into a relationship when Usagi got tired of waiting for Leo to gather up the courage to ask her on a date and did it herself, and since then the two have been what could only be described as a picture perfect couple.

Raphael was happy for Leo, he was probably around the two as a couple the most so he knew more than anyone how perfectly matched they were, but what really relieved him was that now he knew Leo wasn't still chasing after Donnie. Raph and Leo never again spoke of the feelings Leo had for his brother after the night Leo had confessed them to him, and Raph noticed that, over time, Leo's special and overly affectionate actions towards Donatello had slowly diminished until his treatment towards Don could only be described as brotherly. Now, Raph was slightly curious as to if Leo had just been confused at the time, with everything that had been going on in their lives and Raph's own relationship with Mikey being contribution to the confusion, or if he had just gotten over it like any other crush, or maybe even he still had those feelings, but finally realized they'd never be returned and so made himself move on and try his best to forget.

As for Mikey's current life status, that was still a mystery and the biggest change for the brothers. The couple months that Michelangelo had been expecting to spend in England before returning turned into a year, which turned into two, and before they knew it, Mikey's parents stayed there until he finished high school altogether.

Raphael and his brothers hadn't heard from Mikey in months. When the teen had first moved, he had still managed to call several times every month or so. During one of his first calls Raph had tried his hardest to apologize and explain everything, and Mikey had accepted his apology just like Raph knew he would, but he also knew Mikey didn't truly understand. His brother probably just thought Raph had maybe felt guilty, or was trying to be nice to him because his other siblings forced him to be, he didn't believe that Raph meant every word he had said over the phone in his apology to try to make things right, and that he had never meant any word he had yelled at him that night years ago.

As time went on, Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael received less and less call from their brother until later, just over a year since he had left, the calls stopped altogether. Now, it wasn't as though they _never_ heard from him again, they still got the occasional postcard, two if they were lucky, in the mail each summer from some amazing place that Mikey's adopted parents had taken him on a vacation to. Each card carried a few sentences with it on its back, telling the brothers the basics about their little brother's life; all was well, school was going great, he missed them, the usual.

Over the last summer, between high school and college, they received yet another letter. The were hoping that their brother would finally be returning home, now that he was eighteen and had graduated from high school, but instead they discovered that he was going to attend a collage over in England. So to Raph, Mikey's life was almost a complete mystery now. All he knew was that his little brother was thousands of miles away at some British college, and that there was a possibility he'd be seeing him within the next six weeks while the brothers spent at least part, if not all, of their winter break at Hamoto Yoshi's, practically their father's, new and fairly large house.

Raphael stared through his window across the snowy landscape. He was extremely tired from lack of sleep and an early wake up, and he figured they still had a good couple hours or so until they reached Splinter's so he decided he had enough time for a good nap and let he eyes droop shut.

* * *

Raph woke just in time to see the view as Leo pulled into the driveway of their former sensei's new home. It was a rather simple house, although bigger than he had anticipated, but not a mansion or anything. It was two stories tall, but also had a basement, the siding was a bit of an off-white color, the roof's shingles appeared black from the patches he could see of it through the melting snow, there was a chimney on the right side, and a garage attached to the left. The patches of slowly melting snow from a recent shower covered the yard which contained no festive decorations, which is to be expected from a retired man living on his own, but there was a reef handing upon the front door.

Leonardo parked the car in font of the garage and the three of them grabbed the bags and suitcases that contained their basic necessities and continued to the door. Raph approached the door and grabbed the door handle to let them inside when Leo stopped him. "Raph, don't just let yourself in. Knock first."

Raph rolled his eyes, "It's Splinter's; we always let ourselves in when he lived at that old apartment. Besides, it's not like he ain't expecting us or nothing, and Don's already here. And this shit is getting heavy so I just wanna get inside and get rid of it already."

Raph turned back to the door and reached for the handle, but the door opened before he could lay his palm on it. "Hey you guy," Donatello greeted, opening the door wide for his brothers and friend.

Raph and Leo called out their greetings to their brother as they passed him to continue down the hallway and relieve their arms of their luggage. Raph set down his belongings to take in the sight of the first floor. The hallway, which lead straight from the front door, opened up into what appeared to be two large rooms combined, only separated at the center by a staircase instead of walls. On his right he could see what must serve as the living room; the area contained one large couch as well as a another smaller one and a few reclining chairs that all faced a fireplace on the right wall. A couple feet above opening of the chimney was a large flat screen television, and a couple feet away on both sides were windows over looking the forest in the distant.

On Raphael's left was what he assumed to be the kitchen for there was a refrigerator, counters, stove, microwave, as well as many cabinets and appliances scattered throughout the room. He turned around to see Usagi giving Don a quick, friendly hug in greeting before he helped her with her suitcases. As the pair walked through the hall, Raph noticed that on each side was a single archway. Taking a few steps back towards the front door to examine where they lead, he discovered on the right there was dinning room with a rather large table for meals, and the left room seemed to be their sensei's own personal library for the room's walls were filled with selves of books, except for one space where a window with a computer and a desk directly below it.

Turning his attention back to his genius brother, who was still chatting with Usagi and now Leo as well, he approached his bags and asked, "Hey Donnie, what am I supposed to do with all this?" He gestured to the items in his hands.

"Here, I'll show you to your room," Donatello said, beckoning to his brother as he started up the staircase.

The second floor was a bit smaller than the first, Raph noticed when the stairs lead them to a single hall was that ran left to right. Donnie gestured to the left side of the hall -which was significantly shorter than the right- to explain briefly that the door at the end of the hall lead to Master Splinter's room while the other two on the walls across from one another were a bedroom on the left, where Donnie himself was staying, and a bathroom on the right. Raph was then lead down the longer, right side of the hallway. He noticed at the end on this side was only a window over looking basically the same view as the windows on the floor below, but there was still two doors across from one another.

Donnie opened the door on the left and let Raph inside what must be considered as his room, for now anyways. "This is going to be your room, Raph. At least until April and Casey get here later this week, then you'll probably have to room with me."

That's right, Raph reminded himself, he had almost forgotten that the couple was visiting for a couple weeks as well. He glanced over to Don, he was pretty sure that his brother still had feelings for April, and it was too bad she never returned his feelings. It was because of them, mostly Raph, that April and Casey had met soon after Mikey's leaving. There had been and instant connection between the two, and the pair had almost felt guilty that they were so happy during a time when their friends were down about their brother's departure. However, over the years the couple grew closer and had ever recently gotten engaged. Although April is only nineteen and in her second year of college, so they plan on waiting until she graduates to get married.

Anyway, as far as the room went, there wasn't much to it, but Raphael didn't mine. There was a double bed against the far wall, he noted the the bed spread was his favorite shade of red, figures Splinter would color code each of their rooms with their favorite colors. Beside the bed was a small night stand, and further down the wall was a window which gave him a view as to exactly how large the back yard was. Along the right wall were another two windows, and in between them sat a dresser with more than enough draws to fit all his clothing, as well as a mirror on top. There was a few more small touches to the room to make it seem more homey, such as a chair, closet, lamp, and a painting or two hanging from the walls.

Raphael set his things down on the carpeted floor, which he also noticed must only be in the bed rooms for the rest of the house was either hardwood flooring like the hallways, stairs, and living room, or tiled like the kitchen and how he assumed the bathrooms would be. He then followed his brother back out of his room, and his earlier theory was confirmed when he caught a glimpse of Leo and Usagi's bedding through their open door and discovered it was also Leo's favorite color: blue.

"Lunch will be ready soon, if you guys are hungry." Donnie called from the top of the stairs in the direction of Leo's room so their brother could hear, before Raph followed him down the staircase.

* * *

Raphael was lounging on the smaller of the two couches in Splinter's living room. He let out a sigh of boredom, his sensei was watching his programs, a hobby he had apparently picked up since his retirement. Raph had been waiting the better part of the morning for Casey to finally wake up so they could find something that was actually fun to do. He and April had arrived about a week ago, and now it was already December twentieth, only five days until Christmas. It was already past ten and neither he nor April had woken up yet. They didn't sleep in this late everyday, but when they did, Raph knew better than to go knocking on the door of his old room for fear of what he would find was keeping them "busy" either late the night before or that morning.

Raph was stuck, he didn't know what else to do. Leonardo and Usagi were in the library doing intense training exercises without weapons, which he considered joining but knew they'd be too focus and serious to have any fun. Donatello was in the dinning room, using the huge table there to work on his latest science project. Raph sighed again and got up from the couch, maybe he'd be able to convince Don to do something fun.

As Raph entered the room, he saw his brainiac brother tinkering with some new device of his. "Whatcha up to, Don?" he asked as he rounded the table to stand beside his brother.

"I'm not even going to try to explain cause we both know you won't understand -no offense-, but it's something my professor said a few weeks ago during his lecture in class and it gave me an idea. I haven't really had much time to work on it before now, what with being here at Splinter's and then you and Leo arriving and April and Casey's arrival too just a few days ago. I've hardly had any time to make any progress with it," Donnie said to Raph, but not taking his eyes off his work.

"So, I'm gessin' the answer would be 'no' it I asked you to something fun, like target practice or sparrin' out back." Raph said to his brother.

"You would be correct," Don answered and heard his brother sigh. "Raph, have you ever even _been_ down to the basement yet?"

Raph looked at his brother in confusion. "There's a basement? I didn't even know this house had one. Thought these two floors had more than enough space."

"Didn't you ever wounder where that door beside the staircase over there lead? That's where sensei always goes to mediate. There's also weights, a punching bag, and other workout and training equipment down there."

"What? How come nobody told me about this earlier?" Raph asked, excited to finally have something to do. He started off in the direction of his new discovery, but didn't make it three steps when her heard a knock at the door.

Raphael turned back around and watched as Donnie ran to look out the window. He saw his brother's face light up as he ran out of the room, through the archway, and down the hall announcing loudly to the entire first floor, "It's Mikey! Mikey's here!"

Raph felt his heartbeat quicken in anticipation as he made it to the arch and stood in the shadows as Leo eagerly went to join Don in finally seeing their brother for the first time in over three years. Raph only watch as Donatello flung the door open and pulled his brother into a hug, Leo joining in seconds later. He was glad to see that Mikey hadn't changed too much, as far as appearances went anyways. The teen had definitely grown several inches since he last saw him, although he was still the shortest of all the brothers. His hair style also seemed shorter, while living at the orphanage his hair had hung down past his ears. Now it was exactly short, but it was at least an inch or two less then how it used to be, but Raph thought the haircut fit him, possibly better than his old one. Also, Michelangelo seemed to have gained muscle too, he was always pretty lean, but all the sports and activities that Mr. Parker must have enrolled him in throughout the rest of high school must of helped with that.

However, Mikey's face was still almost exactly the same. He still had those freckles sprinkled across his nose and cheeks. There was still that same adorable little smile of his, although it didn't belong to the Mike he knew. Even though Mikey was no doubt ecstatic to see his brothers again, to the trained eye it could be told that the smile was somewhat forced. Same held true for his eyes, still that same hypnotic blue, but they were guarded and lifeless, showing no emotion. Raph felt a familiar pang, knowing that this change hadn't taken place after he had left. No, it was because of him and his stupid ideas that he actually thought would help his brother.

Deciding he had waited long enough, Raph took a hesitant step through the archway to greet his brother, but froze when he saw Mikey step back to reveal a girl who had been standing behind him. She looked about their age, slim, with hair as black as midnight and eyes of a vibrant green that rivaled Raph's own.

Still partially hidden in the shadows, Raph's eyes widen only a fraction when Mikey placed his arm around the girl's waist and gestured from her to his brothers and back again in an introduction. Raph heard the exchange of words going on between the four, but didn't register them as he glared the girl down, jealousy ripping at his insides. Raph's eyes narrowed further when the girl wrapped both her arms around one of Mikey's and hugged it as they made their was through the door and into the house.

Raphael felt himself make an almost growling noise deep in his throat, although no one else was able to hear. All hesitation gone, Raph strode out of the shadows and confidently towards Mikey. His shorter brother didn't see him coming until he was ripped from his apparent girlfriend's grasp and into a tight embrace by his older brother. Raph held Mikey tight, and after a moment finally felt the hug returned, hesitantly at first, but soon the arms held with just as much force as Raph's own. Raph turned his head to look over Mikey shoulder and down as the girl who had accompanied him here. He felt his hold on his brother tighten as he glared at her. Her eyes widened for a brief second, in either shock or fear, but she soon gave him a shy smile and a wave.

Raph heard a nervous cough and clearing of the throat come from Leo and Don, making him aware of just how long he had been embracing his brother. He released his brother after a few more moments, but kept his hands clasped on his shoulders. He gave Mikey a rare smile, mostly due to the fact that the blond was fiercely blushing and seemed a bit shocked, he was glad to know that at least he could still elicit emotion from the teen. Raph eyed Mikey for another moment before finally saying, "It's good to have you back, bro," and clapping his hand on his shoulder.

* * *

- So after three years they finally see Mikey again. I purposely didn't give Mikey's girlfriend a name because I had no idea what to call her and she's not that important anyways. It'll probably be a little while until chapter eight is posted, about a week maybe? Also, that might be the last chapter too, just a heads up. One more thing, I hate having Donnie all alone, so if anyone has any idea who he should be with let me know what you think! And review please!


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